The Sci-fi Flop That Became a Masterpiece 

Amazing as always :)

How do you come up with these video ideas?

How did you take the sucess of your first video, the Sandworm one ? Like, first video and BOOM, millions of view (sorry if the question is not clear, french guy here, english not my language)

do you have favourite themes in storytelling to explore?

"This video is dubbed in Spanish and Portuguese on our Patreon!" Maybe just make this free? It's a huge middle-finger to people that don't fully understand English.

Just two weeks? You are definitely a braver man than me. I have had the DVD for 32 years now, one of the first I bought (just the best movies), right on the shelf next to the entertainment set. Every time I see the cover, I think: It would be fantastic to watch it again; I know it would make my day, but... I'm alone in the house, and I don't dare!!

america did not like most of carpeners movie's

@@torquetheprisoner Crappy taste!!

@@JGARCIA2012FULL the one the really shocked me was big trouble in little china

@@torquetheprisoner I have loved this movie since the first time I saw it, and I love it every time I see it again. It was one of my first movies in my DVDs collection. A fantastic combination of imagination and entertainment-pure 80's juiciness!!

Yes, the best scene to shock a lot of people.

People tend to laugh when watching horror movies, because often those "scary parts" just look silly to someone who is not caught up in the atmosphere of the film. For example, for me, the ending of Hereditary was and will always remain ridiculous, how can I be scared of some sped up figure running around on the walls, or on the ceiling like some Looney Toon on meth? As for the husky assimilation scene from The Thing, i think, even for someone who is not immersed in the film, this scene doesn't seem silly and silly-looking because of the combination of brilliant practical effects and great sound design.

I hated it! I didn't care about any of the characters. And I forgot about it 5 seconds later.

It took a couple of watches to click tbh. The effects were a bit silly. Jaws and alien hid that stuff, the thing stares at them like the are the best thing ever.. The best part of it is the paranoia and the interpersonal stuff, the gore puppets took me out. When it clicked it was great though.

Was a new era of effects. Many people were accustomed to horror movies with tension and a bit of blood, but those effects were next level. When the Exorcist and An American Werewolf in London were release, people had nightmares. In many respects it's like the difference between erotica and hard core porn.

@@Cheepchipsable suddenly "rick baker" was a name that got tossed around in the same hollywood conversations with a-level celebrities

It was too much for most people when it came out. And really, the same would be true today

yes!

And so we did...and Carpenter's MASTERPIECE became an iconic classic...

Legend has it neither Childs or MacCready were the Thing… IT WAS E.T. ALL ALONG!!!

Same for me both masterpieces never seen anything as good since.

The Thing still SFX stands up today, great movies both

Yes! And remember, Timothy...that THEME. the music theme that sounds building suspense and horror...that music theme WAS GREAT, especially in the opening moments. The slowly build to a boom, befor they introduce the first evidence of the alien horror and how it manifested with the snow Dogs...remember?

@@lukeyznaga7627 Yes. That was the best scene, the snowdogs. I always wondered....what and where the hell was that alien that went through the ceiling.

@@timothylee3105 YES!! You are so cool and Correct. I thought I was the only one! Where... where did that alien go that went through the roof? Like the name Fisk. Isn't that from daredevil..... Kingpin?

First time I felt sorry for ET

ET: I’ll… be… right… here… MacCready: Yeah FAWK YOU TOO!

The Thing was an atmospheric horror movie... Way ahead of it's time.

My dad took my brother and me to see "The Thing" at the theater when we were kids, and I remember thinking, "This is freaking awesome." I had no idea this movie was panned and dismissed by critics. Of course, I never listen to critics. Those who can't do, criticize. The funny thing is that my mom took us to see ET, and I liked it as well. Total opposite ends of the spectrum.

I wholeheartedly agree. Greatest Sci-Fi movies: Bladerunner, Alien, Aliens, Dune, The Thing, Mad Max 2, Repo Man (original). (Struggling to think of another)

They hated Carpenter for political reasons since he's a Libertarian, also the story has its roots in Lovecraft's work, which is also hated by the establishment.

@@dinosaur6756 I had the same thing as a kid. I saw The Thing and Blade Runner in the theater that year and loved them both. It wasn't until years and years later I found out that the two had become "cult classics" because they flopped at the theater. I couldn't understand it.

Same with the Star Wars one. Watched Andor, then saw the video in my recommendations. All the other videos were just as good

> "Peaked" = "piqued." It's French for "pricked," as in, "stuck with a pin." It piqued my interest. But thanks for the recommendation. If this channel features good films, I will follow it.

Great movies! Prince of Darkness is so sadly forgotten.

@@thing_under_the_stairsMaglite!!! 😂😉

I would like to suggest Hull Zero Three by the late Greg Bear, not exactly a horror but one of my favorite sci-fi novels

For me the scariest movie I saw was ‘The Ring’ when it came out on VHS in 2003. I was 11 at the time. Those 7 days after were awful LOL. And even afterwards, I still didn’t go near a TV for a whole month. I think one of the great things about being young is that it “feels” like it’s easier for a great movie experience to stick with you & resonate. But that’s just my opinion, and I could be way off the mark here

For a similar polar nightmare, try Alistair MacLean's Night Without End. It has a similar building tension as the book opens, enough that i recall the fear when reading it as an early teen many decades later

short story "Things With Beards" by Sam J Miller Sort of depicts what happens after the end of The Thing. Good story

I'm curious about something, baring in mind when the movie is set (1982). When I was at university in 1987 (Heriot Watt, Edinburgh, Scotland), there were a lot of Norwegian students there, because of some kind of special arrangement with the Norwegian govt (about 10% in some departments; there were many in my comp sci class); there was even an annual Norwegian Evening party, which was enormous fun, long tables, everyone holding large glass mugs of beer or whatever, all shouting "Skål!" at the climax of the evening. Most of the friends I made were thus Norwegian. Good times. Point being, all of them spoke flawless English, and thus my question is, what is the likelihood that the Norwegian man at the start of the film would not have been able to speak English? Afterall, he would have known of the presence of the American base, and being a scientist it would surely have been to his advantage during his evolving career to have at least a reasonable grasp of English when undergoing operations abroad in such places, as interaction with scientists from many other nations is common (hmm, it is today anyway, perhaps not back then?). I was just wondering about the prevalence of English language skills, whether the universal presence of it among the students I met was a severe selection bias (and of course of a younger demographic than the scientist in the film), ie. whether among the general populatation in Norway back in 1982, it was actually fairly common for adults not to know English, or perhaps its regional, less common in certain areas. Heh, perhaps an unfair question to ask, assuming you're Swedish, but I'm asking anyway. :D You're right though about the US reaction to movies tending to dominate modern narratives of how movies were received upon first release. The Thing was very popular where I am in the UK IIRC, especially among the scifi student crowd when I started uni, as by then it had gained great notoriety via the VHS market and had been shown on TV many times. Indeed, when I bought my first VHS tapes that year, more than half of them were Carpenter movies, with The Thing top of the list of wants.

@@mapesdhs597Norway has a special relationship with UK because of the War. Another is because they are one of the founders of NATO.

@@thomasedin764 Hmm, interesting, so I wonder how long the arrangement has been in place at the uni, I don't know (or if it still is, I graduated in 1994).

Bullet dodged!

@@av_oid Totally! I don’t care HOW amazing the sex might have been. If she was turned off by the movie or my reaction to it, good riddance! 😉

I though the ending was that you to got married and lived happily ever after.

@@bondgabebond4907 🤣🤣🤣

You can't win em all.

you said the truth, Justwasted! I recently did a weekend with my friends, where we binged on 10 great movies of the 80s. we had a great time. WE on purpose invited 2 new friends that had never seen these movies. THEY WERE IN AWE and it "affected" them, in their mind and soul. They didn't know - they didn't know there were movies like that. WE all agreed after that weekend, that THERE ARE VERY FEW movies that "affected " us [ a memory event, an event to reminisce among friends, you know what I mean ] like those 80 movies!

@@lukeyznaga7627 10 movies? That's a full day! Yikes!

Same. Growing up in the 70s and 80s was a privilege.

They used to have double features!

MOvies and tv both, the 80s was a great time to grow up.

That reminded me so much of seeing the Blair Witch Project in the theatre, with no clue what it was about, then having to make a long, midnight drive home through the middle of nowhere in the rain, surrounded by nothing but trees. To add to the mood, the next song on the mixtape in my car was "A Forest" by the Cure. I was just a bit on edge by that point. When I got home and the power went out from the storm, I admit that I screamed like a girl a bit.

AND THEN YOU COME ACROSS A HEDGE MAZE AND SEE THE SHADOW OF A MAN WITH AN AXE

I watched E.T. so many times as a kid that my parents had to replace the VHS tape at least once XD. As an adult I have never seen "The Thing" so that's what I will fix today! cheers on loving my favorite film from childhood

1982 was a great year. I love the music from that year too

I still like E.T, saw it in theater as a teenager, but I felt I outgrew it. I do recommend Super 8 as a more updated "version" of it. The Thing...man I loved it and am STILL creeped out by it.

Sadly I didn't see Blade Runner in the theater... Years later I saw it and was completely mesmerized I have to wonder how I would have reacted back then when it was first released

I have watched the Thing, at least 10 times. Blade runner and Alien and Conan and the Mad Max series several times. The early star trek movies were great. There is just some sort of "magic" to it when i see it. I also remember some of my friends that have passed away, that I saw the movies WITH, when in the theaters. Oh, well, memories and past adventures. I almost regret getting older and living in the current civilization.

And then Adam Sandler marries it

@@SpecimenX-9000 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Of course!

Both of them had dissapointing box returns though initially. So people weren't really receptive to either concepts.

@@pegasusactua2985 How do you know something is fantastic if you've never seen something like it? It had only been five years since Star Wars, a simple story of the hero's journey; Three years of Alien, true space terror straight to the screen; but from there to the techno-philosophical sci-fi of Blade Runner and the masterpiece of practical special effects that is The Thing, the minds of the adults of the time were simply not prepared for so much. I saw them in my first years of adolescence on HBO and Cinemax in 1984; they simply blew my mind. I immediately recognized the greatness of these movies, but I supposedly couldn't see them because of the age restriction. Their audience was always there, but we weren't "adults" yet!!

@@pegasusactua2985 Yes, sci-fi and horror were never seen as big earners, at least until Star Wars came out. A lot of people will simply never watch a sci-fi or horror movie - period.

A stretch to say they explore similar themes. Impostors doesn't really come up in Blade Runner nor the paranoia. BR is more a straight detective flick asking what does it meant to be "human". The Thing's problem is the effects are so visceral that it kind of shocks people who never examine the story line. A lot of reviewers saw it as gore porn. Don't forget Carpenter was never a Spielberg tier director and no where near the financial backing, so it's no surprise his film didn't do as well.

Thank you!

It definitely gave Paramount the green light to resurrect Star Trek as a movie franchise.

And for the boardgames - There's also The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 which plays out just like the movie, it's amazing.

There’s even an ET game that is considered to be responsible for the big American video game crash lol

the thing game is like a sudo sequal to the carpenter movie.😎

​@@torquetheprisoner Carpenter even said the game was canon, so it technically _is_ a sequel.

There’s even an Alien game for the C64, Amstrad CPC and the ZX Spectrum.

Moon is great.

Great story!

That would be far worse than my only experience. I bicycled to watch a double billing of The Fly and Aliens 2. A one-two punch so to speak. That cycle home was not pleasant and I had streetlights all the way. lol.

When I was eleven we lived on the base at White Sands, New Mexico. The walk home in the dark through the desert after watching "Tarantula" was an experience that stayed with me.

@mrpieceofwork I have a good one: While walking back home from the convenience store 4 blocks away, my friend and I at midnight on Halloween had been telling each other ghost stories. We decided to cut across the local cemetery to save 2 blocks walking. As we walked across a newly buried section one of our foot and lower half of the leg punched thru and dropped into a hidden sudden sinkhole. It was as if something had yanked the foot and leg downwards. I think we screamed and levitated across the remaining distance to the street lol.😅